Causes of Ulcerative Colitis | Named Patient Medicine
Autoimmune Condition The immune system is the body's defense against infection. Many experts believe that ulcerative colitis is an autoimmune condition (when the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue).The immune system usually fights infection by releasing white blood cells into the blood to destroy the cause of the infection. This results in swelling and redness (swelling) of the body tissues in the infected area. In ulcerative colitis, a leading theory is that the immune system mistakes the "friendly bacteria" in the colon, which aid digestion, as a harmful infection, leading to inflammation of the colon and rectum. Alternatively, some researchers believe that a viral or bacterial infection triggers the immune system, but for some reason it does not "shut off" after the infection has passed and cause inflammation. It has also been suggested that there is no infection involved and that the immune system may malfunction on its own, or that there is an ...